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  • Dodgers force World Series to decisive Game 7 by holding off Blue Jays 3-1

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    TORONTO — A two-run lead was starting to slip away from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the ninth inning — along with their chance to force the World Series to Game 7.

    And then Kiké Hernández turned what might have been a tying, two-run single by Andrés Giménez into the first game-ending left field-to-second base double play in postseason history.

    “The crazy thing is I had no idea where the ball was because it was in the lights the whole time,” Hernández said after preserving a 3-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6 on Friday night.

    Instead of getting a World Series-winning, three-run homer like the one Joe Carter hit off Philadelphia’s Mitch Williams to capture the title in Game 6 in 1993, the Blue Jays were pushed to Game 7 and the Dodgers kept alive their chance to become the first repeat champion since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees.

    Max Scherzer will start Game 7 for Toronto against a Dodgers pitcher still to be determined — perhaps two-way star Shohei Ohtani, perhaps Tyler Glasnow. The October Classic will end in November for the 10th time.

    “It’s the two best words in sports: Game 7,” Toronto manager John Schneider said.

    Yoshinobu Yamamoto beat Toronto for the second time in a week by allowing one run in six innings, and slumping Mookie Betts hit a two-run single in a three-run third against Kevin Gausman that included Will Smith’s go-ahead double.

    George Springer, back after missing two games with a sore right side, hit an RBI single in the bottom half, and the Dodgers held that 3-1 lead going to the ninth.

    Roki Sasaki hit Alejandro Kirk on the left wrist with an 0-2 splitter leading off and Addison Barger followed with a drive that landed at the base of the left-center wall. In a seldom-seen rarity, the ball lodged there instead of caroming back into play.

    Both runners crossed the plate as many in the Rogers Centre crowd initially thought Toronto had tied the game, but the rule book is clear that a ball lodged in a fence is a ground-rule double. The runners were placed at second and third, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts brought in Glasnow, who was lined up to start Game 7 on normal rest.

    “I just felt that Roki wasn’t as sharp, and I just felt we needed some swing-and-miss and Glasnow was the guy. So I had him loose, kind of looming,” Roberts said.

    Glasnow escaped with just three pitches, earning the first save of the Series.

    Ernie Clement popped up his initial offering to first base. Giménez took a ball and hit the next 247 feet to the opposite field, in short left.

    Hernández said he decided to play more shallow than the Dodgers’ scouting card called for. He ran 52 feet and while on the run made a catch that had only a 40% probability, then delivered a one-hop throw to second baseman Miguel Rojas that doubled up Barger.

    “For a split second as Glasnow threw the ball, the crowd got quiet and I was able to hear that the bat broke,” Hernández said. “So I just got a really good jump on the ball and I came in and halfway there, the ball got in the lights. And I was just like, not the right time to stop to see where the ball is, just keep going.

    “It’s going to hit me in the face — but I’m not stopping,” Hernández remembered thinking. “I’m not pulling up. And at the very end, the ball came out of the lights and went into my glove.”

    Barger had gotten about halfway to third before scrambling back, and he reached second base too late with his headfirst slide.

    “I was being too aggressive, trying to score, try to tie that game if that ball drops,” Barger said.

    Even after the umpire signaled out, players had to wait 60 seconds for the call to be upheld by the replay room in New York.

    Rojas had been inserted into the lineup for his first start since Oct. 6 in an effort by Roberts to spark the Dodgers’ offense, which is batting .191 after winning with just four hits.

    “Pretty epic ending there,” Rojas said.

    Yamamoto was not quite as sharp as in his Game 2 four-hitter, the first World Series complete game in a decade. Rookie reliever Justin Wrobleski struck out Giménez to strand a runner at second in the seventh and Sasaki got out of a two-on, one-out jam in the eighth when Bo Bichette fouled out and Daulton Varsho grounded out.

    Then came the first game-ending double play in World Series history in which an outfielder had a putout or assist, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

    “Man, we live for Game 7, so here we go,” Roberts said.

    Yamamoto, winner of three MVP awards in Japan, improved to 4-1 with a 1.56 ERA in five postseason starts and has a 1.20 ERA in his two Series outings.

    Tommy Edman doubled with one out in the third for the Dodgers’ first hit. Ohtani was intentionally walked for the fifth time in the Series and Smith hit an RBI double off the left-field wall on a high splitter. Freddie Freeman walked, bringing up Betts.

    With Los Angeles seeking its third title in six seasons, Roberts dropped the slumping Betts from second to third in the batting order in Game 5 and then to fourth in Game 6 — the lowest Betts had hit since 2017.

    Betts fell behind 1-2 in the count, fouled off two pitches and laced Gausman’s third straight fastball between shortstop and third for a 3-0 lead. That ended an 0-for-13 stretch with the bases loaded for the Dodgers that dated to the Division Series.

    “He could hit me seventh, I don’t care. I just want to win,” said Betts, already a three-time champion. “Whatever we do, however we get there, I’ll jump on whoever’s back to go. We all get a ring, that’s all I care about.”

    Scherzer and Glasnow started Game 3, won by the Dodgers 6-5 in 18 innings. A 41-year-old right-hander, Scherzer will become the fourth pitcher to start multiple World Series winner-take-all Game 7s after Bob Gibson (1964, ’67, ’68), Lew Burdette and Don Larsen (both 1957 and ’58). Scherzer allowed two runs over five innings for Washington against Houston in 2019, and the Nationals rallied for a 6-2 win.

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    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

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  • George Springer back in Blue Jays’ lineup for World Series Game 6 against Dodgers

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    TORONTO — George Springer was back in the Toronto Blue Jays’ lineup for Game 6 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night after missing two games with an injury to his right side.

    Springer was set to lead off as designated hitter for the Blue Jays, who led the Series 3-2 and were one win from their first title since 1993.

    “Once you get confirmation that there’s nothing terribly wrong, it’s kind of ‘What can you tolerate?’” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “He’s somehow, at age 36, made significant progress in the last 48 hours.”

    Bo Bichette, still regaining his fitness after a sprained knee that sidelined him for seven weeks, was at second base.

    Springer strained his right side while taking a swing in Game 3 and immediately left the game after the first pitch of his plate appearance.

    “It wasn’t great,” Schneider said of Springer’s exit. “He’s tough. I think any hitter, when you kind of feel something there, you get a little worried. I think that kind of scares guys a little bit but I’m really happy that he’s back.”

    Schneider said the Blue Jays don’t believe Springer can aggravate or worsen his pain by playing.

    “That’s kind of how we’re approaching it,” Schneider said. “There’s always some risk, too. There’s a difference between being injured and hurting. He’s not injured right now. But yeah, there’s always a risk.”

    Springer worked out in the batting cage and again on the field before Game 5. He was preparing to pinch run for Bichette in the ninth inning, but Bichette grounded out.

    “He was pretty close two days ago,” Schneider said of Springer. “It was just trying to balance another day and a half of rest or would he be all right. If we needed him, he was going to come into the game in some capacity. He’s a gamer, man. Ready to go.”

    Springer has the second-most leadoff homers in major league history with 63, trailing only Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson’s 81.

    Springer hit a three-run homer in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against Seattle on Oct. 20, playing a major role in sending the Blue Jays to their first World Series since 1993.

    That came three days after he was struck on the right kneecap by a 95.6 mph pitch from Seattle’s Bryan Woo during the ALCS, forcing him out of Game 5. Springer returned in Game 6.

    Springer was the World Series MVP for the Houston Astros in 2017, when he tied a Series record by hitting five homers against the Dodgers. Los Angeles fans have booed him at Dodger Stadium since that Astros title was later tainted by the revelation of their illegal sign stealing.

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    Associated Press freelancer writer Ian Harrison contributed to this report.

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    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

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  • With Gausman and Yamamoto, the splitter is back in the spotlight for World Series Game 6

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    TORONTO — Mr. Splitty has returned.

    Showcased by World Series Game 6 starters Kevin Gausman and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, split-finger fastballs have been used for 6.8% of postseason pitches this year, more than double last year’s 2.4% and up from 1.5% when pitch tracking started in 2008.

    “There’s so many good pitches in today’s game — there’s so many good sweepers and sliders and cutters,” Gausman said. “I think the split is almost kind of a just a little bit different of an animal. You can recognize the spin and you can still have a pretty ugly swing on it if the metrics are right.”

    Toronto used splitters a big league-high 9.3% of the time during the regular season, according to MLB Statcast. That was the highest percentage of any team since pitch tracking started in 2008, topping 7.8% by Minnesota in 2023 and Baltimore this year.

    Gausman has thrown his splitter 41.4% of the time in the postseason, followed on the Blue Jays by fellow starter Trey Yesavage (27.7%), closer Jeff Hoffman (25.9%) and relievers Seranthony Domínguez (16.7%) and Yariel Rodríguez (8.6%).

    Roki Sasaki, shifted from rotation to relief, tops the Dodgers at 45.9%, followed by Yamamoto at 24.7% and Shohei Ohtani at 7.4%.

    “Roger Craig is smiling somewhere,” New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, referring to the late pitching coach and manager, among the splitter’s most prominent proponents. “With all these cameras and technology and stuff, you’re really able to outfit guys with what they should be doing based on how their body moves.”

    Bruce Sutter, Jack Morris and John Smoltz utilized the splitter during careers that earned induction into the Hall of Fame.

    Splitters are throw with index and middle fingers spread wide, intended to have substantial downward break.

    Sutter credited his reaching the Hall to learning the splitter from Fred Martin, a big leaguer from 1946-50 who became a Chicago Cubs minor league instructor.

    “He told me to spread my fingers apart and throw it just like a fastball,” Sutter said during his Hall induction speech in 2006. “There were players throwing forkballs at the time and a few guys were using it for a changeup, but nobody was throwing what he called the split finger. It was a pitch that didn’t change how the game was played but developed a new way to get hitters out.”

    Craig taught the splitter to Morris as pitching coach of the Detroit Tigers and to Mike Scott when he was with the Houston Astros. Roger Clemens learned how to throw it from Scott at a charity golf event in 1986 and started calling the pitch “Mr. Splitty.”

    Usage dropped after the pitch gained a reputation for causing elbow injuries. Just 1.4% of regular-season pitches were splitters when tracking started. The percentage climbed to 2.2% in 2023, 3.1% in 2024 and 3.3% this year.

    “Going back a few years, I think certain people thought they couldn’t throw it, they couldn’t actually get their fingers wide enough,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “Pitch design has changed, and I think guys have figured out different ways to grip it, like, Gaus’s is different than Trey’s, Trey’s is different than Seranthony’s, Yariel’s is different than — they all hold it a little bit differently. So I think pitchers have just gotten to the point where they understand that pitch works against certain swing types that are pretty prevalent in the league and they figured out ways to kind of manipulate to get the same action.”

    Gausman’s 37.6% splitter usage during the season was third behind Detroit’s Rafael Montero (46.9%) and Philadelphia’s Jhoan Duran (39.7%) among those who threw at least 1,000 pitches.

    Among starting pitchers who threw at least 100 splitters, Yamamoto held batters to a .136 average, third behind Seattle’s Logan Gilbert (.119) and Atlanta’s Spencer Schwellenbach (.132).

    Batters had a .181 average against Gausman’s splitter, down from .230 vs. his fastball and .342 against his slider.

    “One of the few pitches I thoroughly believe a hitter can know it’s coming and still get out,” Gausman said. “I’ve always felt like the changeup is the best pitch in the game because it looks like a fastball, and anything that looks like a fastball and isn’t is really good.”

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    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

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  • Shohei Ohtani could be used as an opener or even as an outfielder in Game 7

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    TORONTO — Dodgers manager Dave Roberts will consider using Shohei Ohtani as an opener or even as an outfielder in Game 7 if Los Angeles forces the World Series against Toronto to the limit.

    The two-way star threw 93 pitches in Wednesday’s 6-2 loss in Game 4 and could be available as a reliever this weekend in Toronto.

    However, if Ohtani entered as a reliever after starting the game as a designated hitter, the Dodgers would lose their DH. He can remain in the game as a DH if he also is the starting pitcher.

    “I think we would consider everything,” Roberts said Thursday, a day ahead of Game 6. “It’s more of just kind of doing whatever we can to get through tomorrow and then pick up the pieces and then see what’s the best way to attack a potential Game 7. So everything should be on the table and will be, for sure.”

    Roberts said he planned to discuss options with Ohtani later Thursday.

    Ohtani has never pitched in relief during his Major League Baseball career. He made a handful of relief appearances in Japan for the Pacific League’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, mostly as a rookie in 2013. He closed out Japan’s victory in the 2023 World Baseball Classic final against the United States, striking out then-Los Angeles Angels teammate Mike Trout for the final out.

    Ohtani is batting .250 with eight homers, 14 RBIs and 14 walks in the postseason for a 1.109 OPS and is 2-1 on the mound with a 3.50 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 18 innings.

    If Ohtani entered as a reliever after starting as a DH, he would need to play a position to remain in the game once his mound appearance is over.

    He made seven outfield appearances with the Angels in 2021, the year before a rule was changed allowing starting pitchers to stay in games at DH after being removed from mound appearances.

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    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

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  • US World Series viewers drop 14% for first two games of Dodgers-Blue Jays matchup

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    U.S. viewers for the first two games of the World Series between the Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays dropped 14% from last year’s matchup between Los Angeles and the New York Yankees, but Canadian and Japanese audiences set records

    LOS ANGELES — U.S. viewers for the first two games of the World Series between the Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays dropped 14% from last year’s matchup between Los Angeles and the New York Yankees, but Canadian and Japanese audiences set records.

    Last year’s first two games averaged 14.55 million and this year’s first two averaged 12.5 million on Fox, Fox Deportes, Fox One streaming, the Fox Sports app and Univision, Major League Baseball said Tuesday.

    MLB said the combined 32.6 million viewers for the opener in the U.S., Canada and Japan were its highest since the Chicago Cubs ended their 108-year title drought by beating Cleveland in Game 7 of the 2016 Series.

    Toronto’s 11-4 win in Game 1 averaged 13,305,000 and Los Angeles’ 5-1 victory in Game 2, which did not include Univision coverage, averaged 11.63 million, Fox said.

    Los Angeles’ 6-3, 10-inning win in last year’s opener that ended with Freddie Freeman’s grand slam was seen by 15.2 million, the most-watched Series game since 2019. The Dodgers’ 4-2 victory in Game 2 last year was viewed by 13.44 million.

    Game 1 this year drew 7 million viewers in Canada and Game 2 was watched by 6.6 million, the two most-watched Blue Jays games on Sportsnet. The network is owned by Rogers Communications Inc., the parent company of the Blue Jays.

    The opener also was broadcast with French-language commentary on TVA Sports and drew 502,000, that network’s most-watched game.

    This year’s opener averaged 11.8 million on NHK-G, the most-viewed World Series game in Japan televised by a single network, and Game 2 averaged 9.5 million on NHK-BS for a two-game Japanese average of 10.7 million.

    The two-game average in the U.S., Canada and Japan was 30.5 million.

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    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

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  • Ex-wife of Angels employee to face cross examination in trial over pitcher’s overdose death

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    SANTA ANA, Calif. — The ex-wife of a Los Angeles Angels employee at the center of the overdose death of one of the team’s star pitchers will face more cross examination Tuesday after testifying she saw players and clubhouse attendants passing pills and alcohol while partying on the team plane.

    Camela Kay told jurors in a Southern California courtroom on Monday she had traveled on the Angels team plane with her then-husband Eric Kay, who was convicted of providing drugs that led to the 2019 death of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs. She said she had seen players partying, playing card games, gambling and drinking.

    “They’re treated like kings,” Camela Kay said of her observations on the plane. “I had seen them passing out pills or drinking alcohol excessively.”

    The testimony came in a trial for a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Skaggs’ family contending the Angels should be held responsible for letting Eric Kay, then the team’s communications director, stay on the job and access players while he was addicted to and dealing drugs. The Angels have said team officials did not know Skaggs was taking drugs and that any drug activity involving him and Eric Kay happened on their own time and in the privacy of the player’s hotel room.

    Camela Kay testified she told an Angels employee that her then-husband may have been intending to sell drugs to Skaggs on at least one occasion. That was based on information Eric Kay told his sister during a hospital stay for a drug overdose, she said. Camela Kay said the sister then told her, and she told an Angels employee.

    Defense attorneys for the Angels began their cross examination of Camela Kay on Monday and questioned her direct knowledge of Eric Kay’s interactions with Skaggs.

    Camela Kay said she was concerned that her then-husband had a drug problem after observing his erratic behavior, and family members mounted an intervention with him in 2017. The next day, she said, two team officials came over to speak with him and one of them pulled a series of plastic baggies containing white pills from the bedroom, which fueled her concerns that Eric Kay was not only struggling with substance abuse but selling drugs to make money.

    “Him being in the clubhouse with the players, my guess would be he is supplying to them,” she said.

    Camela Kay also described how her then-husband was driven home by an Angels employee after he was dancing in his office, shirtless, at the stadium in 2019. After he got home, she found a bottle with blue pills inside and called police to press him to go to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed an overdose involving six different drugs, she said.

    He was hospitalized for three days and then went to rehab, which was communicated in text messages between Camela Kay and team officials shown to jurors.

    She said her sister-in-law told her after visiting Eric Kay in the hospital that he told her the pills were for Skaggs. She said she found text messages on his phone about him getting his “candy” at the stadium and relayed the information about both to Angels officials.

    She said she was concerned about Eric Kay heading on the road with the Angels after completing a six-week stint in rehab, adding he was still acting erratic and she suspected he was abusing a drug meant to treat opioid addiction.

    After Skaggs’ death, Camela Kay filed for divorce, according to Orange County court records.

    The trial comes more than six years after Skaggs, then 27, was found dead in the suburban Dallas hotel room where he was staying as the Angels were supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report said Skaggs choked to death on his vomit and a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.

    Eric Kay was convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl and sentenced to 22 years in prison. His federal criminal trial in Texas included testimony from five MLB players who said they received oxycodone from him at various times from 2017 to 2019, the years he was accused of obtaining pills and giving them to Angels players.

    Skaggs had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016 and struggled with injuries repeatedly during that time. He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

    Skaggs’ family is seeking $118 million in lost earnings, compensation for pain and suffering and punitive damages against the team.

    After Skaggs’ death, the MLB reached a deal with the players association to start testing for opioids and to refer those who test positive to the treatment board.

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  • Ex-wife of Angels employee expected to testify over pitcher’s drug overdose death

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    SANTA ANA, Calif. — The ex-wife of a Los Angeles Angels employee is expected to testify in a trial over whether the MLB team should be held responsible for the drug overdose death of one of its star pitchers.

    Camela Kay is expected to take the stand Monday to speak about her ex-husband, Angels’ communication director Eric Kay, who was convicted of providing a fentanyl-laced pill that led to the death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs. He was later sentenced to 22 years in federal prison.

    After Skaggs’ death, Camela Kay filed for divorce, according to Orange County court records.

    The testimony is expected in a civil trial for a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Skaggs’ family contending the Angels should be held responsible for letting a drug-addicted and dealing employee stay on the job and access its players. The Angels say team officials did not know Skaggs was taking drugs and that any drug activity involving him and Kay happened on their own time and in the privacy of the player’s hotel room.

    The trial comes more than six years after Skaggs, then 27, was found dead in the suburban Dallas hotel room where he was staying as the Angels were supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report said Skaggs choked to death on his vomit and a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.

    Eric Kay was convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl. His federal criminal trial in Texas included testimony from five MLB players who said they received oxycodone from him at various times from 2017 to 2019, the years he was accused of obtaining pills and giving them to Angels players.

    Skaggs had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016 and struggled with injuries repeatedly during that time. He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

    Skaggs’ family is seeking $118 million in lost earnings, compensation for pain and suffering and punitive damages against the team.

    After Skaggs’ death, the MLB reached a deal with the players association to start testing for opioids and to refer those who test positive to the treatment board.

    The trial is expected to take weeks and has included testimony from Angels outfielder Mike Trout.

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  • Blue Jays manager to Shohei Ohtani: We want our hat back — and your dog’s jacket

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    TORONTO (AP) — While most of baseball is saying hats off to Shohei Ohtani, Toronto manager John Schneider wants a cap back from the two-way star.

    Before signing a $700 million, 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the two-way star met with Blue Jays officials on Dec. 4, 2023, at the team’s spring training complex in Dunedin, Florida.

    Ohtani will be the opening batter of the World Series, leading off for the defending champion Dodgers against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on Friday night after his unprecedented performance in the NL Championship Series.

    “I hope he brought his hat, the Blue Jay hat that he took from us in our meeting. I hope he brought it back, finally,” Schneider said Thursday.

    “And the jacket for Decoy,” he added, a reference to Ohtani’s dog, a Nederlanse kooikerhondje. “It’s like, give us our stuff back already.”

    Ohtani smiled when asked about the headgear.

    “It’s in my garage,” he said through a translator.

    Ohtani helped lead the Dodgers to last year’s title, hitting .310 with 54 homers, 130 RBIs and 59 stolen bases.

    Back to pitching in a limited role this season as he returned from elbow surgery, he batted .282 with 55 homers, 102 RBIs and 20 steals while going 1-1 with a 2.87 ERA in 14 starts, striking out 62 in 47 innings.

    Last Friday, he homered three times while pitching six shutout innings and striking 10 against Milwaukee as the Dodgers completed a four-game sweep of the NL Championship Series.

    Absent Ohtani, the Blue Jays had the finances to give first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. a $500 million, 14-year contract that starts next year, and he helped Toronto reach the World Series for the first time since 1993.

    “He’s a great player,” Schneider said. “But that aside, I think that we have a great team and just an unbelievable cast of characters and players. I think things worked out the way they’re meant to work out.”

    Schneider isn’t sure how close the Blue Jays came to signing Ohtani.

    “When we met with him, you felt good about it, and you felt good about the feedback he was giving about our organization and opportunity here,” he said. “But you never really know what a player’s feeling in free agency, and there’s a lot of things that have to line up for them personally, too, so you can’t really think about what if. You think about the 26 (players) that we have.”

    Ohtani praised the Blue Jays.

    “It’s an unfortunate reality as a free agent that you get to really pick one team,” he said. “The decision had to be made, but again, this organization has been superb. They have a lot of awesome people.”

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    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

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  • Barger, Varsho and Kirk lead homer barrage as Blue Jays rout Dodgers 11-4 in World Series opener

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    TORONTO — Addison Barger launched the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history, Alejandro Kirk added a two-run homer in a nine-run sixth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays overwhelmed the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers 11-4 in the opener Friday night.

    “That’s the epitome of our offense,” said Blue Jays third baseman Ernie Clement, who laced a tiebreaking single in the sixth. “It’s a collective effort and everybody just doing their job.”

    Daulton Varsho started Toronto’s comeback from a 2-0 deficit with a two-run drive in the fourth off two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell.

    “I’ve faced him before plenty of times. He’s obviously dominated me,” Varsho said. “It’s one of those guys where you’ve got to get your best swing off and whatever happens, happens.”

    The longball barrage was fitting as the Fall Classic returned to Toronto for the first time since 1993, when Joe Carter hit the second walk-off homer to end a World Series. And in an unusual tie to that night 32 years ago, Varsho is named after Darren Daulton, the Philadelphia Phillies catcher Mitch Williams was throwing to when Carter connected.

    Shohei Ohtani hit his first Series home run for the heavily favored Dodgers, seeking to become the first repeat champion since the New York Yankees took three titles in a row from 1998-2000. Los Angeles was trailing by nine when he went deep off Braydon Fisher for a two-run shot in the seventh, his fourth homer in two games.

    Fans angry that Ohtani spurned the Blue Jays to sign a $700 million contract with the Dodgers in December 2023 chanted: “We don’t need you!” when he came to the plate in the ninth.

    “Don’t poke the bear,” Toronto pitcher Chris Bassitt said.

    Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is at Rogers Centre on Saturday night.

    “They bring it every night,” Clement said, referring to Blue Jays fans. “The last few months, honestly, they’ve been selling this place out and giving us a ton of energy. We’re lucky to have these fans.”

    Playing after a one-week layoff following its National League Championship Series sweep, Los Angeles took a 2-0 lead against 22-year-old rookie Trey Yesavage on RBI singles by Kiké Hernández in the second and Will Smith in the third.

    Yesavage made his fourth postseason start — one more than his regular-season career total. At 22 years, 88 days old he became the second-youngest pitcher to start a World Series opener behind Brooklyn’s Ralph Branca at 21 years, 267 days in 1947 at Yankee Stadium.

    Yesavage made some key pitches during his four innings, leaving the bases loaded in the second by retiring Ohtani on a groundout and stranding a runner at third the next inning when he struck out Max Muncy.

    Seranthony Domínguez got the win with 1 1/3 hitless innings.

    Varsho’s homer was the first off Snell by a left-handed hitter since Juan Soto connected for the Yankees on June 2 last year. Snell gave up a career-high five hits on changeups and allowed five runs, eight hits and three walks in five-plus innings.

    “Blake just didn’t have good fastball command,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “There were just a couple bad walks in there.”

    Snell pitched in the Series for the first time since 2020 with Tampa Bay, when he was removed in the sixth inning of Game 6 while pitching a shutout against the Dodgers. Los Angeles rallied against the Rays’ bullpen for its first championship since 1988.

    Now the Dodgers are chasing their third title in six years.

    Coming off a seven-game ALCS against Seattle that ended Monday, Toronto got 14 hits and key contributions from Bo Bichette and Varsho, who combined with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to become the first trio of sons of former major leaguers to start for one team in a Series game.

    Returning from a sprained left knee that had sidelined him since Sept. 6, Bichette played second base for the first time in six years and favored the knee. He singled in the first, ranged to the left side of the infield to field a grounder and save a run, then with the score 2-2 drew a full-count walk from Snell starting the sixth.

    Twelve batters went to the plate in the inning. Clement singled off reliever Emmet Sheehan for a 3-2 lead, pinch-hitter Nathan Lukes drew a bases-loaded walk and Andrés Giménez added an RBI single.

    Barger greeted left-hander Anthony Banda with a 413-foot drive to right-center on a hanging slider to put Toronto ahead 9-2.

    “Just a blackout moment. Just crazy,” Barger said. “I was choking up a little bit, just trying to put the ball in the air and get a run in.”

    Kirk, who singled off the right-field wall a pitch before Varsho’s homer, added his fourth home run of the postseason.

    “We just didn’t make pitches when we need to to keep that game close,” Roberts said. “We need to be better.”

    Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman start Saturday night. Yamamoto won Game 2 of the Series last year, allowing one run and one hit over 6 1/3 innings in a 4-2 victory over the Yankees and is coming off the first postseason complete game in eight years, a three-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers. Gausman will be making his Series debut.

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  • Rookie Trey Yesasave to start World Series opener for Blue Jays, just his 7th big league game

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    Rookie Trey Yesasave will start Friday night’s World Series opener for the Toronto Blue Jays against the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers and Blake Snell, giving the 22-year-old more postseason starts than career regular-season outings

    TORONTO — TORONTO (AP) — Rookie Trey Yesasave will start Friday night’s World Series opener for the Toronto Blue Jays against the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers and Blake Snell, giving the 22-year-old more postseason starts than career regular-season outings.

    Yesavage, who debuted on Sept. 15, will be making his fourth postseason start.

    Blue Jays manager John Schneider said Thursday he wasn’t ready to announce his Game 2 starter from among Kevin Gausman, Max Scherzer and Shane Bieber.

    Selected 20th overall in last year’s amateur draft from East Carolina University, Yesavage began the season at Class A Dunedin, was promoted to High-A Vancouver on May 20, Double-A New Hampshire on June 12 and Triple-A Buffalo on Aug. 12.

    He was 1-0 with a 3.21 ERA in three starts in September, striking out 16 in 14 innings, helped by a devastating splitter, with seven walks.

    Yesavage beat the New York Yankees with 5 1/3 scoreless, hitless innings in Game 2 of the Division Series as he struck out 11, lost Game 2 of the AL Championship Series when he allowed five runs in four innings, then won Game 6 of the ALCS on Sunday when he gave up two runs in 5 2/3 innings.

    Gausman threw 19 pitches in relief in Game 7 of the ALCS on Monday against Seattle, three days after he tossed 91 pitches in his Game 5 start.

    “It made sense to hold Kevin for a day,” Schneider said, not committing to Gausman for Game 2 on Saturday or Game 3 on Monday at Dodger Stadium.

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  • Baseball could be in the midst of a Dodgers dynasty

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    TORONTO — TORONTO (AP) — Baseball could be in the midst of a Dodgers dynasty, a much-debated word reserved for teams achieving sweeping success.

    By beating Toronto in the World Series that starts Friday night, Los Angeles would capture its third title in six years.

    “Just winning one is hard,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “If you can get three in a matter of five, six years, I guess you could say it is one. But I think it’s the sustained winning that the Dodgers have done for so long and then obviously to cement it with some championships, I think, yeah, I guess you can call this if we do it a modern-day dynasty.”

    Baseball has no widely accepted definition.

    Most give pantheon status to the 1949-53 New York Yankees (five straight titles), the 1936-39 Yankees (four), the 1972-74 Oakland Athletics (three) and the 1998-2000 Yankees (three) — the last team to win consecutive championships. The Dodgers are the first defending champion to reach the World Series since the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies.

    “The Dodgers have had an incredible, historic run, winning 12 out of the 13 division championships, and the one time they didn’t they won 106 games,” Emmy-winning commentator Bob Costas said. “That compares to what the Braves did in the ’90s and early 2000s. It’s historic and it’s an incredible run of excellence, but is it a dynasty? That’s a more difficult word to define.”

    Would beating the Toronto change his opinion?

    “I think a title this year moves them closer to that,” he said.

    Mookie Betts, who has been with the Dodgers since 2020, said he’s more concerned about preparing for games than contemplating the team’s historical place.

    “If you’re thinking about going to the postseason and obviously having a chance to win World Series year after year, I guess that would kind of qualify as some type of dynasty, but I don’t know what it takes to call it that,” he said.

    Since the expansion era started, the only consecutive titles have been won by the 1961-62 Yankees, the mid-70s A’s, the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds, the 1977-78 Yankees, the 1992-93 Toronto Blue Jays and the late-century Yankees.

    Earlier back-to-back titles also were won by the 1907-08 Chicago Cubs, 1910-11 Philadelphia A’s, 1915-16 Red Sox, 1921-22 New York Giants, 1927-28 Yankees and 1929-30 A’s.

    John Thorn, Major League Baseball’s official historian, thinks sustained success is sufficient to earn the dynasty honorific, even if every year didn’t result in a title.

    “I think a dynasty is today defined by consecutive pennants or division titles won, not by World Series championships,” he wrote in an email. “So I think the Atlanta Braves of recent years, the Detroit Tigers of 1907-09, or the Giants of 1911-1913, are in. Three straight WS appearances, rather than three straight titles, does it for me.”

    Los Angeles won the title during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and that year’s expanded playoffs, then beat the Yankees in a five-game Series last year. Winning this year would for some make them comparable to the Yankees, who won four in seven years from 1956-62, and the Dodgers, who took three in seven seasons from 1959-65.

    Teams with three titles in a four- or five-year span include the 1910-13 Philadelphia Athletics, the 1915-18 Boston Red Sox, the 1942-46 St. Louis Cardinals and the 2010-14 San Francisco Giants.

    “It just kind of puts us on a Mount Rushmore of sports organizations,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “The legacy, dynasty talk, a lot of that I feel is is meant for other people that aren’t playing, and let them have those debates, where it’s our job to kind of put those topics on the table.”

    Betts considers each championship a boost toward the sport’s highest individual accomplishment.

    “Obviously, my end goal and the goal of probably everyone is to be in the Hall of Fame one day, and so I think that definitely helps the case,” he said.

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  • George Springer’s home run was one of the biggest non-World Series plays in baseball history

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    George Springer seized a spot in Toronto Blue Jays history when he hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning that sent his team to a 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners in Game 7 of the AL Championship series.

    Springer’s drive to left field Monday night didn’t have quite the same impact as Joe Carter’s homer that gave Toronto the World Series in 1993, or even Dave Winfield’s extra-inning double that helped the Blue Jays edge Atlanta for the 1992 title. But for a hit that occurred outside the World Series, Springer’s was awfully impactful.

    A stat called championship win probability added (cWPA) — published by Baseball Reference — measures how much a particular play increased or decreased a team’s chance of winning that year’s World Series. That’s based on when it occurred in the game — and when that game occurred in the overall context of the season.

    Springer’s homer increased Toronto’s chance of winning the World Series by 19.73%. It ranks as one of the 10 biggest non-World Series plays since 1903. Here’s the full list:

    Chris Chambliss’ solo homer in the bottom of the ninth to give the New York Yankees a 7-6 win over Kansas City in Game 5 of the 1976 ALCS. (cWPA of 18.77%)

    The LCS was best-of-five before 1985, so this homer by Chambliss was a walk-off in a winner-take-all game. It also touched off a complete mob scene as fans invaded the field at Yankee Stadium. Baseball Reference’s cWPA data has Chambliss’ drive just ahead of a similar homer by Aaron Boone of the Yankees in Game 7 of the ALCS 27 years later.

    Cecil Cooper’s two-run single in the seventh that put the Milwaukee Brewers up 4-3 against the California Angels in Game 5 of the 1982 ALCS. (19.66%)

    That 4-3 lead held up to give Milwaukee the pennant in a series California led 2-0 at one point. The Angels also blew a 3-1 lead in the 1986 ALCS.

    Springer’s three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh that gave Toronto a 4-3 lead over Seattle in Game 7 of the 2025 ALCS. (19.73%)

    Like Cooper’s hit, Springer’s drive turned a deficit into a lead in the seventh inning of a winner-take-all LCS game. Give Springer extra points for erasing a multirun deficit.

    Manny Trillo’s two-run triple with two outs in the top of the eighth, which gave the Philadelphia Phillies a 7-5 lead against the Houston Astros in Game 5 of the 1980 NLCS. (19.79%)

    This two-run lead actually didn’t hold up. Houston tied the game, but the Phillies did eventually win 8-7 in 10. So those two runs were huge.

    Jack Clark’s three-run homer with two outs in the top of the ninth that gave the St. Louis Cardinals a 7-5 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6 of the 1985 NLCS. (19.83%)

    The Dodgers pitched to Clark with first base open and he made them pay. This is the only play on this list that wasn’t in a winner-take-all game, but it sent the Cardinals to the World Series when they were one out from a Game 7.

    Yadier Molina’s two-run homer in the top of the ninth that gave St. Louis a 3-1 lead over the New York Mets in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. (20.71%)

    After a spectacular catch by New York’s Endy Chavez at the wall in left field earlier in the game, Molina sent this ball well past it. The Cardinals held off a New York rally in the bottom of the inning to win the pennant.

    Rick Monday’s solo homer in the top of the ninth that gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead over the Montreal Expos in Game 5 of the 1981 NLCS. (21.18%)

    This homer — hit with two outs — ranks slightly ahead of Molina’s one-out drive. Both provided the game’s final scoring.

    Johnny Bench’s solo homer in the bottom of the ninth for the Cincinnati Reds that tied Game 5 of the 1972 NLCS against Pittsburgh at 3. (22.52%)

    The Pirates were three outs from the World Series, but those never came. Bench led off with this opposite-field drive, and Cincinnati would score the pennant-winning run on a wild pitch later that inning.

    Bobby Thomson’s three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth that gave the New York Giants a 5-4 win over the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 3 of a tiebreaker series for the National League pennant in 1951. (35.56%)

    Thomson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round The World” wasn’t technically a postseason play because tiebreaker playoffs have been considered part of the regular season. Still, this was a winner-take-all game for a World Series berth, and Thomson’s team went from being down two runs to winning in one legendary swing.

    Francisco Cabrera’s two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth that gave the Atlanta Braves a 3-2 win over Pittsburgh in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS. (36.84%)

    Cabrera remains one of baseball’s unlikeliest heroes, having had only 11 plate appearances during the 1992 regular season. He ranks just ahead of Thomson. Although Thomson’s hit erased a bigger deficit, Cabrera’s came with two outs while Thomson’s came with only one.

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  • Blue Jays take aim at America’s pastime as Canada-US relations remain broken

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    TORONTO — TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s only major league team will have an entire country behind it during the World Series and has a chance of claiming the championship of America’s pastime at a time when U.S.-Canada relations remain near historic lows.

    The Toronto Blue Jays host the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 on Friday night in Toronto after defeating the Seattle Mariners in the American League Championship Series.

    The once-in-a-generation MLB playoff run comes as Canadians are feeling an undeniable sense of betrayal after U.S. President Donald Trump has talked about making the country the 51st state.

    “Nobody wants to be the 51st state. We’re going to show America that we’re going to beat them at their favorite pastime,” said Geoffrey Fulton, a 54-year fan who has been sporting a Maple Leaf bandana at games.

    “It’s especially the year where we want to go all the way and win the championship. It would just be great for our country.”

    Tensions between the neighbors and longtime allies have eased slightly in recent months as Prime Minister Mark Carney tries to get a trade deal, but American tariffs are taking a toll. One of the world’s most durable and amicable alliances — born of geography, heritage and centuries of common interests — remains broken.

    Many Canadians have been boycotting the U.S. since the Trump administration started threatening Canada’s economy and sovereignty with tariffs and heated political rhetoric, most offensively of all by claiming Canada could be “the 51st state.”

    But Fulton went to New York to cheer on his Blue Jays as they eliminated the Yankees in the prior playoff round. Yankees fans booed the Canadian national anthem, and Fulton had his Blue Jays wig lifted off his head and stolen at Yankee Stadium.

    “Canada needs to be together, so to have the Blue Jays go all the way and win the World Series would just be fantastic,” Fulton said.

    Unlike Canada’s pastime of hockey, where there are several Canadian teams, there is only one in baseball’s major leagues for Canada’s 41 million people to cheer.

    At an NHL game in Calgary, Alberta — more than 2,000 miles west of Toronto — the Calgary Flames public address announcer updated the crowd with George’s Springer’s go-ahead, three-run homer in the seventh inning over Seattle to raucous cheers.

    In Toronto, 28-year-old Braeden McNeil was fighting back tears after attending the Blue Jays game with his brother.

    “It’s extra special. They can say what they want, 51st state. We are our own country” McNeil said. “We’re going to the World Series. It doesn’t matter if we’re the underdogs. It doesn’t matter what Americans say.”

    Toronto manager John Schneider, an American born in New Jersey, said he feels more Canadian than American now.

    “It’s such a fulfilling job because you have an entire country hanging on every pitch. I feel it, too. I feel like I’m more Canadian. I love drinking beer, I like drinking Tim Horton’s. I’m one of them,” Schneider said. “To have every one from coast to coast be part of this is something that is truly, truly special.”

    “So happy for our team, our fans, our city, our country,” added Springer, who is from Connecticut but is in his fifth season with the Jays.

    The Blue Jays last appeared in the World Series in 1993 and in 1992 when they won back-to-back championships. In 1992, the U.S. Marine Corps displayed the Canadian flag upside-down at Game 2 in Atlanta, but political tensions were not an issue then.

    Canadians have not been booing the American national anthem at sporting events in recent months as they did earlier in year at hockey and basketball games when Trump first threatened Canada.

    When Canada defeated the U.S. in the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament in February, it turned into a geopolitical brawl over anthems and annexation as much as international hockey supremacy. The mood is as not as intense now.

    When Carney was in the Oval Office this month Trump was asked about a 23% decline in cross border visits to the U.S.

    “The people of Canada, they will love us again,” Trump predicted.

    “It’s not bad. They’ll come back,” Carney told Trump.

    Carney then took the opportunity to brag about the Blue Jays.

    “We’re coming down for the World Series Mr. President,” Carney said.

    “By the way they are looking pretty good,” Trump said of the Blue Jays.

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  • Blue Jays in World Series for first time since 1993

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    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — When slugger Joe Carter hit the last World Series pitch thrown in Canada over the left-field wall to win the Toronto Blue Jays’ second consecutive title, it was 8 1/2 months before Shohei Ohtani was born.

    The Blue Jays are back in baseball’s championship round for the first time since 1993 and will host Ohtani and the Dodgers in Friday night’s opener as Los Angeles tries to become the first repeat winner in a quarter century.

    When the World Series was last north of the border, the Steroids Era was just starting, advanced analytics were science fiction and complete games were thrown about twice a month.

    While the Dodgers may be the favorite, the Blue Jays have an entire country behind them.

    “You always feel the weight of the world in decisions you make but when you’re kind of feeling a country, it kind of gets a little dicey at times,” Toronto manager John Schneider said early in the postseason. “Sixth inning with the bases loaded and nobody out and Aaron Judge hitting, you feel like people in Nova Scotia want to come murder you.”

    Toronto hosts the opener because it finished the regular season with 94 wins, one more than the Dodgers.

    “They just got all their guys rolling. They’re scoring seven, eight runs, 10 runs a game, so that’s tough to slow down,” Los Angeles shortstop Mookie Betts said. “They’re doing all three facets of the game.”

    Seeking the franchise’s ninth title and eighth since bolting Brooklyn for Los Angeles after the 1957 season, the Dodgers have overrun opponents during the postseason. Ohtani is starring at the plate and on the mound, a performance that would be deemed CGI if not witnessed by thousands in person.

    “Sometimes you’ve got to check yourself and touch him to make sure he’s not just made of steel,” teammate Freddie Freeman said.

    Before his three-homer at the plate and 10-strikeouts, six-scoreless innings mound show Friday night, Ohtani’s bat had been slumping.

    He’s hitting .220 with five homers and nine RBIs in the postseason and is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in a pair of pitching starts, striking out 19 and walking four in 12 innings.

    Los Angeles is the first defending champion to reach the Series since the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies, who lost to the New York Yankees in six games. No team has won consecutive titles since the Yankees took three in a row from 1998-2000. The gap is the longest in baseball history, topping the previous high between the 1977-78 Yankees and the 1992-93 Blue Jays.

    In other U.S. major leagues, the longest Super Bowl title gap was between the 2004-05 New England Patriots and the 2023-24 Kansas City Chiefs, the longest in the NBA was between the 1968-69 Boston Celtics and the 1987-88 Los Angeles Lakers, and the lengthiest in the NHL was between the 1997-98 Detroit Red Wings and the 2016-17 Pittsburgh Penguins.

    “Realizing how hard it is to do last year, realizing how hard it was in ’20, it’s special,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said. “Trying to get back-to-back is even more special.”

    Toronto pitcher Max Scherzer was on the 2021 Dodgers team that fell short, losing to Atlanta in the National League Championship Series. Hall of Famers Rickey Henderson and Fred McGriff also played for both franchises, along with Justin Turner.

    Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman has dual American-Canadian citizenship — his parents were born in Canada.

    The Triple-A Montreal Royals were the Dodgers’ top farm team from 1939-60 — Jackie Robinson started his Dodgers career there in 1946, a year before he broke the major league color barrier.

    Los Angeles entered the postseason with a big league-high $341.5 million payroll, according to Major League Baseball’s latest tabulation, and is projected to pay nearly $168 million in luxury tax, easily a record. Counting the $6.5 million signing bonus in rookie Roki Sasaki’s minor league contract, the Dodgers’ player cost this year totals $516 million — with final numbers to be calculated during the offseason.

    Including Sasaki’s signing bonus, the 13 pitchers on the Dodgers’ NLCS roster alone cost $124.5 million.

    Toronto has the fifth-highest payroll at $252.7 million and is on track to spend $266 million including just over $13 million in luxury tax. No small-market team has won the title since the 2015 Kansas City Royals.

    “Before this season started, they said the Dodgers are ruining baseball,” manager Dave Roberts shouted to the crowd after Friday night’s National League pennant clincher. “Let’s get four more wins and really ruin baseball!”

    Los Angeles pitchers are 9-1 with a 2.45 ERA in 10 postseason games, including 7-1 with 1.40 ERA for starting pitchers totaling 64 1/3 of 82 innings. Led by Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers starters were 3-0 with a 0.63 ERA in the NLCS and their staff held the Milwaukee Brewers to a .118 batting average during the four-game sweep, lowest in a postseason series of at least three games.

    LA’s four postseason starters totaled 73 starts and 372 1/3 innings during the regular season. Their closer threw 36 1/3 innings.

    That’s because Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Sasaki all hurt their pitching shoulders and Ohtani didn’t return to the mound until June 16 after recovering from elbow surgery in 2023.

    Toronto, which started play in 1977, could become the 15th of the 30 teams to win three or more titles. That would be more than Cleveland, the New York Mets and Philadelphia, teams that have been around much longer.

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    AP Sports Writer Beth Harris in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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  • Guerrero hits 6th postseason homer and Blue Jays beat Mariners 6-2 to force Game 7 of ALCS

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    TORONTO — TORONTO (AP) — Look dad, Game 7!

    Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his sixth home run this postseason, rookie Trey Yesavage struck out seven in 5 2/3 innings and the Toronto Blue Jays pushed the American League Championship Series to the limit by beating the sloppy Seattle Mariners 6-2 on Sunday night.

    The AL pennant will be decided Monday night in Toronto, the second Game 7 in Blue Jays history. Toronto lost to Kansas City in the 1985 ALCS.

    “Got to enjoy it, man. This is what we sign up for,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “It’s special and unique, but you have to look at it as a game.”

    For one famous baseball family, it will also be a first. Guerrero’s father, Hall of Fame outfielder Vladimir Guerrero, never played in a postseason Game 7 during his 16-year career.

    “My dad was telling me, Game 7 is give it all you have,” the Toronto slugger said.

    Seattle, the only big league team without a pennant, will play a Game 7 for the first time. The winner faces the NL champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series beginning Friday.

    “Win or go home,” Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez said. “We’re going to lay everything out there.”

    Addison Barger homered and drove in three early runs for the Blue Jays, who turned three double plays behind Yesavage — two of them to escape bases-loaded jams.

    That made Toronto the first team to induce consecutive bases-loaded, inning-ending double plays in a postseason game, and only the fourth team to turn two in a single postseason game.

    “I knew my defense had my back,” Yesavage said.

    Toronto also took advantage of Seattle’s season-high three errors. By comparison, the Blue Jays have made four errors in 10 playoff games.

    “Balls just kind of in and out of the glove there that put a couple extra guys on base,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “Unfortunately, it led to a couple runs.”

    Guerrero’s sixth career postseason homer — all this year — tied him with José Bautista and Joe Carter for the most in Blue Jays history.

    “This is what you look for from one of the elite players in the game,” Schneider said.

    Bautista threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game.

    Toronto had lost its previous four games when facing postseason elimination. That streak stretched to Game 5 of the 2016 ALCS against Cleveland and included wild-card round losses to Tampa Bay in 2020, Seattle in 2022 and Minnesota in 2023.

    Guerrero’s leadoff homer in the fifth made it 5-0 and chased Mariners starter Logan Gilbert. The right-hander allowed four earned runs and seven hits in four-plus innings.

    “I thought he had a good fastball, especially early,” Wilson said. “His split was good at times. This is a tough lineup and they did what they had to do to get the ball in play.”

    Yesavage took a shutout into the sixth. He was charged with two runs and six hits, five of them singles. Five of his strikeouts came on his split-finger fastball, as did both double-play grounders with the bases loaded.

    “I just believed in myself. I know my stuff plays at this level,” Yesavage said. “I know the defense behind me is going to play at the best of their abilities, and getting three double plays in back-to-back-to-back innings was huge.”

    The 22-year-old Yesavage threw a season-high 31 splitters. He got 10 whiffs on splitters and five more on sliders.

    “He brings the energy,” Guerrero said. “He’s young. He wants to win so bad.”

    Three of Yesavage’s six major league starts have come in the playoffs. He’s won twice this postseason after winning one of three outings during the regular season.

    Louis Varland got four outs and Jeff Hoffman struck out four over two hitless innings to end it.

    The Mariners used two walks and a single to load the bases against Yesavage in the third but were denied when slugger Cal Raleigh grounded into a 3-6-1 double play started by Guerrero and completed by Yesavage covering first base. Raleigh’s first-pitch grounder came off his bat at 101 mph.

    “Underappreciated, I think, is how Vlad can play really deep because of his arm,” Schneider said. “In that situation, too, you need some wiggle room for a guy that hits the ball really hard.”

    Raleigh finished 0 for 4 with three strikeouts.

    Seattle came up empty again after another bases-loaded opportunity in the fourth when J.P. Crawford grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.

    The Mariners broke through and chased Yesavage in the sixth. Josh Naylor’s solo shot was his third home run of the playoffs. Yesavage exited after Randy Arozarena’s base hit, and Eugenio Suárez greeted Varland with a bloop RBI single.

    Toronto took advantage of fielding errors by Rodríguez in center field and Suárez at third base to score twice in the second, when Barger and Isiah Kiner-Falefa had RBI singles.

    Ernie Clement hit a two-out triple off the left-field wall in the third and scored when Barger homered, his second of the postseason.

    George Springer started at designated hitter for the Blue Jays and went 0 for 4 with a walk. Springer exited in the seventh inning of Friday’s Game 5 loss in Seattle after he was hit on the right kneecap by a 95.6 mph pitch from Bryan Woo.

    Guerrero was hit by a pitch from Seattle reliever Matt Brash in the seventh. Guerrero moved to second on Alejandro Kirk’s single and was advancing on a wild pitch when he scored on Raleigh’s throwing error.

    Toronto is expected to start RHP Shane Bieber on Monday night. Bieber allowed two runs and four hits over six innings in Game 3, a 13-4 win for the Blue Jays. He struck out eight and walked one as he bounced back from a poor outing against the Yankees in the Division Series.

    RHP George Kirby will start for Seattle. He allowed eight runs and eight hits, including three homers, over four innings in Game 3.

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  • Brewers outclassed by Ohtani and big-money Dodgers as rousing season ends with NLCS sweep

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    LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — Turned out the National League Championship Series was indeed a mismatch, just as Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy suggested.

    But not only in payroll and star power.

    On the baseball field, too. Where it really matters.

    After compiling the majors’ best record during the regular season, the scrappy Brewers appeared capable of beating anybody — until they ran into Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers in October.

    Milwaukee mustered only four runs and 14 hits in a four-game Dodgers sweep that left the Brewers steps short of the World Series once again. The team’s only pennant came in 1982, when Milwaukee was in the American League.

    “The pitching performances by the Dodgers basically put the hammer down,” Murphy said.

    Before the series, Murphy did his best to paint a picture of David vs. Goliath, calling the Dodgers “a powerhouse” and joking he was “sure that most Dodger players can’t name eight guys” on an underdog Milwaukee roster he had referred to as “Average Joes.”

    The defending World Series champion Dodgers are poised this year to spend a record $509.5 million in payroll and projected luxury tax. The Brewers play in the smallest market in the big leagues, and their entire payroll of $124.8 million doesn’t even approach Los Angeles’ projected luxury tax bill of nearly $168 million.

    Still, the NL Central champion Brewers went 97-65 this season and won all six meetings with the NL West champion Dodgers (93-69) — though those games came in July before a banged-up Los Angeles team got healthier.

    When they squared off in the playoffs, it was a different story. Milwaukee scored only one run in each of the four games, and Ohtani delivered the final blow with an epic display Friday night.

    The two-way superstar launched three homers at the plate and struck out 10 in six-plus scoreless innings of two-hit ball on the mound as Los Angeles rolled into the World Series with a 5-1 victory in Game 4.

    “That’s probably one of the best games anybody’s ever played in baseball, I would imagine,” Brewers slugger Christian Yelich said. “Just an awesome performance from him tonight. He’s the best player in the game for a reason and he definitely showed that tonight.”

    During a regular season to savor, Milwaukee got stingy pitching, played airtight defense, moved runners along and came through with timely hits.

    But against the Dodgers, the Brewers were outclassed.

    A draining five-game Division Series versus the rival Chicago Cubs and a tight 2-1 loss in Game 1 of the NLCS appeared to sap Milwaukee’s energy.

    “I think we obviously had some guys not feeling their best at the plate and we had a couple of them at the same time,” said Yelich, who went 1 for 14 in the series with seven strikeouts. “It’s unfortunate when those rough stretches happen at the same time.”

    After left-hander Aaron Ashby was used as an opener twice in three games, the Brewers went with veteran left-hander Jose Quintana to start Game 4. But his brand of location and low-velocity breaking balls did not play Friday as Ohtani stole the show.

    “It’s really hard to do one, and he did two things at the same time,” Quintana said, marveling at Ohtani’s feat. “You stop for a second and look at this guy, it’s unbelievable. We stayed with the plan and it was a great night for him. … This was not the way we wanted it to end, but at the same time, it was an amazing season for us.”

    Instead of a dark and somber tone in the locker room, the Brewers had hugs and pats on the back for each other. Instead of waiting a few weeks after the sudden disappointment to appreciate six-plus months of success, they tempered the sting of elimination with gratitude.

    “Yeah, I think you guys can sense it,” outfielder Blake Perkins said. “We all believe in each other and we love each other. We preached a lot this year the power of friendship and I think this is it. It’s really cool to be a part of. We might not all play together again, so we’re just trying our best to look around and enjoy what we have.”

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  • Shohei Ohtani hits 3 homers, dominates on mound as Dodgers clinch NLCS over Brewers

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    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani has propelled the Los Angeles Dodgers back to the World Series with a two-way performance for the ages.

    Ohtani hit three mammoth home runs and pitched two-hit ball into the seventh inning, and the Dodgers swept the Milwaukee Brewers out of the NL Championship Series with a 5-1 victory in Game 4 on Friday night.

    The Dodgers will have a chance to be baseball’s first repeat World Series champions in a quarter-century after this mind-blowing night for the three-time MVP Ohtani, who emphatically ended a quiet postseason by his lofty standards.

    After striking out three in the top of the first, Ohtani hit the first leadoff homer by a pitcher in major league history off Brewers starter José Quintana.

    Ohtani followed with a 469-foot blast in the fourth inning, clearing the left-field pavilion above the bleachers in left field.

    Ohtani added a third solo shot in the seventh, becoming the 12th player in major league history to hit three homers in a playoff game. His three homers traveled a combined 1,342 feet.

    Ohtani (2-0) also thoroughly dominated the Brewers in his second career postseason mound start, fanning 10 for his first double-digit strikeout game in a Dodgers uniform.

    After the Brewers’ first two batters reached in the seventh, he left the mound to a stadium-shaking ovation — and after Alex Vesia escaped the jam, Ohtani celebrated by hitting his third homer in the bottom half.

    The powerhouse Dodgers are the first team to win back-to-back pennants since Philadelphia in 2009. Los Angeles is back in the World Series for the fifth time in nine seasons, and it will attempt to become baseball’s first repeat champs since the New York Yankees won three straight World Series from 1998 to 2000.

    After capping a 9-1 rampage through the NL playoffs with this singular performance by Ohtani, the Dodgers are headed to the World Series for the 23rd time in franchise history, including 14 pennants since moving from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Only the New York Yankees, last year’s opponent, have made more appearances in the Fall Classic (41).

    Los Angeles will have a week off before the World Series begins next Friday, either in Toronto or at Dodger Stadium against Seattle. The Mariners beat the Blue Jays 6-2 earlier Friday to take a 3-2 lead in the ALCS, which continues Sunday at Rogers Centre.

    The Dodgers had never swept an NLCS in 16 previous appearances, but they became only the fifth team to sweep this series while thoroughly dominating a 97-win Milwaukee club. Los Angeles is the first team to sweep a best-of-seven postseason series since 2022, and the first to sweep an NLCS since Washington in 2019.

    The NL Central champion Brewers were eliminated by the Dodgers for the third time during their current stretch of seven playoff appearances in eight years. Even after setting a franchise record with 97 wins this season, Milwaukee is still waiting for its first World Series appearance since 1982.

    The Brewers had never been swept in a playoff series longer than a best-of-three, but their bats fell silent in the NLCS against the Dodgers’ brilliant starting rotation. Los Angeles’ four starters combined to pitch 28 2/3 innings with two earned runs allowed and 35 strikeouts.

    The Dodgers added two more runs in the first after Ohtani’s tone-setting homer, with Mookie Betts and Will Smith both singling and scoring.

    Jackson Chourio doubled leading off the fourth for Milwaukee’s first hit, but Ohtani stranded him with a groundout and two strikeouts.

    Struggling Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen allowed two more baserunners in the eighth, and Caleb Durbin scored when Brice Turang beat out his potential double-play grounder before Anthony Banda ended the inning.

    Roki Sasaki pitched the ninth.

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    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

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  • Brewers turn potential grand slam by Dodgers slugger Max Muncy into wild double play in NLCS

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    MILWAUKEE (AP) — Max Muncy was inches away from hitting a grand slam for the Los Angeles Dodgers to open the scoring in the National League Championship Series.

    Little did he know his 404-foot drive instead would end the top of the fourth inning Monday night in one of the most incredible plays of this or any postseason.

    “It’s definitely the worst fielder’s choice/double play I’ve ever hit in my life,” Muncy said after the Dodgers’ 2-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1.

    Here’s how Muncy’s potential grand slam turned into an unusual 8-6-2 double play:

    With the bases loaded and one out, Muncy hit a long drive to center field, where Sal Frelick jumped and reached over the wall in an attempt to make the catch.

    The ball popped out of Frelick’s glove and hit the top of the fence before Frelick caught it in the air. Muncy wasn’t ruled out because the ball hit the wall — but the Dodgers’ runners scrambled back to their bases thinking the ball was caught on a fly.

    “I didn’t see it hit the wall,” said Will Smith, who was on second base. “I just thought he kind of brought it back in and caught it.”

    Frelick fired to shortstop Joey Ortiz, who quickly relayed a strike to catcher William Contreras. Aware a force was still in effect, Contreras alertly stretched for the throw with his right foot on home plate, rather than position himself for a tag that would have been necessary if the ball hadn’t hit the wall.

    Contreras caught the ball before Teoscar Hernández slid across the plate, forcing out Hernández after he had hesitated at third base.

    “Teo knows the rule. I think right there he had just a little bit of a brain fart, appreciating that when it does hit the glove, you can tag (up) there,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But then he tagged, did it correctly, then saw he didn’t catch it, (and) he went back. That was the mistake. But he owned it. And after that, there’s nothing else you can do about it.”

    After the forceout at home plate, Contreras smartly got up and jogged to third to force out Smith, too.

    Smith had gone back to second when he thought Frelick made a clean catch.

    “From home plate, I had a pretty good view of it,” Contreras said through an interpreter. “I could tell pretty much right away it hit off the wall. Right away once it hits off the wall, you know that ball is played live. Tremendous job by the guys there just doing what we needed to do to finish that play off.”

    As all of it was developing, Frelick had his arms out with a quizzical look on his face, wondering what exactly had just happened — not unlike many fans.

    The Dodgers challenged the call, but a replay review confirmed the forceouts at home and third for a most unusual inning-ending 8-6-2 double play.

    Umpires called it correctly in real time all the way through the play.

    “Honestly, I didn’t know they ruled it a no-catch,” Roberts said. “I just wanted clarity on the whole situation. And then kind of making sure that they got a couple of forceouts, which they did. And ultimately, those guys and replay, the guys on the field got it right. They nailed it.”

    At 404 feet, it was the second-longest projected distance on a batted ball resulting in a double play since Statcast tracking began in 2015 — regular-season games included. For Muncy, it goes down as a grounded-into-double play, even though the ball didn’t touch the ground.

    There had not been an 8-6-2 double play in the postseason over the last 35 years, the Elias Sports Bureau said. Those type of official scoring details are not always clear in records going back any further.

    The most recent 8-6-2 double play in the regular season involved a ball hit by Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa to Cincinnati center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. in April 2004 — though that one ended with a tag at the plate.

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    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

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  • Brewers beat Cubs 3-1 in Game 5 of NL Division Series to earn NLCS matchup with Dodgers

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    MILWAUKEE — MILWAUKEE (AP) — Ending their recent run of playoff frustration earned the Milwaukee Brewers a new nickname from their manager.

    Pat Murphy has referred to his team as the “Average Joes,” a nod to their small-market status and lack of big names. But after the Brewers beat the rival Chicago Cubs 3-1 in the decisive fifth game of their NL Division Series on Saturday night, Murphy decided it was time for an upgrade.

    “You can call them the average Joes,” Murphy said, “but I say they’re the above-average Joes.”

    The Brewers relied on contributions from just about all of them to get past the Cubs.

    Andrew Vaughn hit a tiebreaking homer in the fourth inning and William Contreras and Brice Turang also went deep. Trevor Megill, Jacob Misiorowski, Aaron Ashby, Chad Patrick and Abner Uribe combined on a four-hitter, with Uribe getting six outs for the first multi-inning save of his career.

    “It takes every single one of these guys in the locker room, and they’ve done it,” Turang said. “We’ve got to keep going.”

    The Brewers, making their seventh playoff appearance in eight years, earned their first postseason series win since sweeping Colorado in a 2018 NLDS. Milwaukee was on the verge of its second World Series berth that year before losing Game 7 of the National League Championship Series at home to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

    Now, the Brewers get another NLCS matchup with the defending World Series champion Dodgers, who beat the Philadelphia Phillies in four games in the other NL Division Series. Game 1 is Monday at Milwaukee as the Brewers chase their first pennant since 1982 — back when they played in the American League.

    After losing slugging shortstop Willy Adames in free agency and trading away All-Star closer Devin Williams last winter, the scrappy Brewers finished the regular season with the best record in the majors at 97-65.

    They’ve reached the NLCS nine months after the death of Bob Uecker, who broadcast Brewers games for 54 seasons and is probably more synonymous with the franchise than any player.

    As the Brewers posed for a postgame picture on the field, they had a banner in front of them with Uecker’s signature. The sellout crowd roared before the game when the scoreboard video showed a fan holding a sign with the message: “Do It For Bob Uecker.”

    “It was important to these guys — because it’s the rival — to finish the job,” Murphy said. “And they know Ueck is smiling.”

    The victory was particularly sweet for Milwaukee fans because it came against the club’s biggest rival and knocked Cubs manager Craig Counsell out of the postseason.

    Counsell grew up in the Milwaukee area, played for the Brewers and became the winningest manager in team history until he left for Chicago.

    In the two seasons since Counsell’s departure, Brewers fans have booed every mention of his name whenever the Cubs have visited American Family Field. They did it again Saturday, though the sellout crowd appeared to include more Cubs backers than in Milwaukee’s Game 1 and Game 2 home victories.

    The Cubs were attempting to become the 11th team to erase a 2-0 deficit and win a best-of-five playoff series, a feat last accomplished by the New York Yankees against Cleveland in their 2017 ALDS.

    “I’m disappointed. I’m sad,” Counsell said. “I think this team did a lot to honor the Chicago Cub uniform. In the big picture, that’s how I feel.”

    Homers produced all the runs in this winner-take-all game, and each of Milwaukee’s came with two outs.

    Contreras hit a 389-foot shot to left-center off Drew Pomeranz in the first inning. Vaughn sent a 3-2 pitch from Colin Rea over the left-field wall to break a 1-all tie, and Turang provided some insurance with a 416-foot drive to center off Andrew Kittredge in the seventh.

    “We fight back. That’s our mentality,” Vaughn said. “We’re going to punch someone else. We’re going to throw it right back.”

    Chicago’s Seiya Suzuki greeted Misiorowski by sending a 101.4 mph fastball into the Cubs bullpen leading off the second, but that was the only run the rookie right-hander allowed in four innings as he earned his second win of the series.

    “It’s been crazy,” the 23-year-old Misiorowski said. “It’s been a whirlwind and it’s been fun.”

    The Brewers brought in Misiorowski after Megill retired the side in order in the first. The Cubs had totaled 11 first-inning runs in the first four games of the series without ever going scoreless in the opening frame.

    After Suzuki’s homer, they didn’t score again Saturday.

    Chicago’s best threat came when it put two on with nobody out in the sixth against Ashby, who had thrown 32 pitches two nights earlier in Milwaukee’s Game 4 loss. Michael Busch hit a leadoff single before Ashby grazed Nico Hoerner with a pitch.

    Ashby got Kyle Tucker to strike out swinging at a 3-2 pitch for the first out. Patrick then came out of the bullpen and retired Suzuki on a fly to left before Ian Happ struck out looking.

    “You set a goal to win the World Series every year,” Busch said. “You come up short, so it stings no matter what.”

    The Brewers exorcised some demons to finish off the series.

    They entered the ninth inning with a two-run lead, just as they did in the decisive game of last year’s NL Wild Card Series against the New York Mets. Milwaukee lost that game when Williams allowed four runs in the final inning, including a three-run homer by Pete Alonso.

    This time, the Brewers had no reason to worry as Uribe retired the side in order.

    “We talked about it before the game,” Murphy said. “It absolutely entered my mind. We talked about it at the end of last season. We sat down in the room. We were all shell-shocked. And I said, ‘Guys, I don’t know what to tell you. Somehow this is going to help us.’ And sure enough, it was prophetic.”

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    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

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  • Don’t check in late for Cubs-Brewers NLDS decider. This series is all about the first inning

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    MILWAUKEE — MILWAUKEE (AP) — Working as a starting pitcher in the NL Division Series between the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers has been one tough job.

    Twenty-one of the 35 runs in the series have been scored in the first inning. The series concludes on Saturday night with a winner-take-all Game 5 to determine which of these NL Central rivals will face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series.

    “I think it’s way more common than you think, for pitchers to be vulnerable in the first inning,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said Friday. “Everybody’s geeked up. The atmosphere is way different. And I think that’s something that is noted.”

    So perhaps it’s no surprise that neither Murphy nor Cubs manager Craig Counsell announced their Game 5 starting pitchers a day in advance.

    The Cubs have the option of turning to Game 2 loser Shota Imanaga on four days’ rest, but he posted a 6.51 ERA in September and has allowed six runs over 6 2/3 innings in two appearances this postseason.

    “With the exception of (Game 4 starter) Matt Boyd, everyone’s going to be available,” Counsell said. “And so it’s a cliché here, but we have 11 pitchers to figure out how to get 27 outs. That’s how we’re treating it.”

    Milwaukee could use a similar approach to its Game 2 strategy, when seven different pitchers contributed to a 7-3 victory. Murphy noted that Aaron Ashby would be available after throwing 32 pitches in the Brewers’ Game 4 loss on Thursday.

    Murphy listed Ashby, Abner Uribe, Jared Koenig, Trevor Megill, Chad Patrick and Jacob Misiorowski as guys who are “going to probably pitch.”

    “A lot of those guys are rookies, a lot of those guys are not very experienced, but that’s how we’ve won all these games and come together,” Murphy said. “Now we’re playing in a way bigger environment, and it’s a bigger task. But I’m confident that we’ll have enough pitching.”

    The Cubs are trying to become the 11th team to win a best-of-five series after losing the first two games. The last team to do it was the New York Yankees against Cleveland in the 2017 AL Division Series.

    Saturday’s winning team would open the NLCS on Monday. The Brewers would host the Dodgers for the start of the series, while the Cubs would travel to Los Angeles.

    Chicago has reached this point by winning each of its last three elimination games, though all of them were at home. The Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 3-1 in the decisive third game of their Wild Card Series, and they brought this series back to Milwaukee by winning 4-3 in Game 3 and 6-0 in Game 4.

    “I feel like it’s an even slate,” Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner said after the Game 4 victory. “Game 5. Both teams have had great moments in this series. I love where our group’s at.”

    Milwaukee is trying to change its recent history of postseason frustration.

    The Brewers are in the playoffs for the seventh time in the last eight seasons, but their last postseason series win was in the 2018 NLDS. They lost Game 7 at home to the Dodgers in the NLCS that year and are 4-13 in their last 17 playoff games.

    Murphy remains confident in the Brewers’ chances as they look to bounce back from two straight losses in Chicago.

    “We’re five wins away from the World Series,” Murphy said. “I’ve learned a lot about this team, and one thing it is, it’s resilient, and they bounce back.”

    Milwaukee suffered one of its most heartbreaking playoff exits last year, when the Brewers led the New York Mets 2-0 heading into the ninth inning of Game 3 in the NL Wild Card Series before Pete Alonso hit a three-run homer off Devin Williams as part of a four-run rally.

    Losing this series would be just about as painful for Brewers fans because it’s against one of their biggest rivals and Counsell, the longtime Milwaukee manager who grew up in the area but left his hometown team to join the Cubs.

    Counsell has downplayed the personal aspect of this matchup throughout the series.

    “I’m just thinking about how do we advance,” Counsell said. “It’s almost like the opponent doesn’t matter right now. How do we advance? Because who you play and all those stories around that, that doesn’t matter. How do we advance? That’s really been my focus.”

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    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

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